Initial results of an autopsy performed on the body of a Bowling Green State University student who died following an alleged hazing incident last week are inconclusive, the Lucas County Coroner’s Office announced Thursday afternoon.
“The cause and manner of death is still under investigation,” Deputy Coroner Thomas Blomquist stated.
Stone Foltz, 20, died after he was given “copious amounts of alcohol” at an off-campus event March 4, family attorney Sean Alto previously said.
Bowling Green police said Wednesday they continue to investigate the alleged incident involving members of the university’s Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity chapter.
“The Bowling Green Police Division’s Investigative Section continues to conduct interviews of individuals while collecting and processing evidence,” the division’s release stated.
About 200 BGSU students had organized a protest Tuesday that began outside the Pi Kappa Alpha house in the university’s Greek Village in memory of Mr. Foltz, who was seeking imitation into the fraternity, and ended in front of the university’s McFall Hall administrative building.
Protest leaders, who declined to be identified or interviewed, demanded the permanent expulsion of Pi Kappa Alpha — also known as “Pike” — from campus and the immediate resignations of Stacey Allan, assistant dean of students handling BGSU’s Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life, and department advisers.
Since the incident, BGSU has suspended all recruiting and social activities for campus fraternities and sororities “until each chapter individually and successfully works with the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life and the Office of the Dean of Students on comprehensive plans to safely restart,” President Rodney Rogers said in a statement.
Gov. Mike DeWine held a conference call with state university presidents earlier this week, in part to address the hazing issue. He said the joint letter they later sent out in support of proposed legislation was not his doing.
“We not only have to pass legislation, we have to be able to change culture,” the governor said during a coronavirus briefing Thursday. “There still obviously are some remnants of an old culture that says hazing is a passage that you have to go through. Whether it's band, a fraternity, some sporting group, this is an antiquated way of thinking, and we have to rid our culture of this.
“As a parent, a grandparent, it is just disgusting and so very sad to think that you can have a young person with so much potential and so much future, now they're gone,” Mr. DeWine said. “And they're gone for no logical reason.”
The Bowling Green Police Division requested that anyone with information regarding Mr. Foltz’s death contact Detective Scott Frank at 419-352-2571. Callers who wish anonymity can call the Wood County Crime Stoppers at 1-800-54-CRIME (419-352-0077).
First Published March 11, 2021, 9:52 p.m.
